Building a Sci-Fi Empire: Starting with Cold Nuclear Fusion

Multi-functional media room.

A distinguished panel of expert judges from the nuclear field sat at a long table for the defense.

As leading figures in China's nuclear field, Yuan Wanhua and Fan Zhen naturally occupy the two middle positions.

Next, from the left and right sides, came Xin Long, Li Jian, Chu Hong, Luo Yu, and others.

Besides these tech gurus, there were also two finance experts sitting at a small table at the back of the crowd.

The door was pushed open from the outside, and a group of people walked in.

"The one next to Lao Shen is Chen Yuan."

"So young, looks like he just graduated from university."

The experts whispered among themselves.

Apart from Xin Long and Li Jian, none of the others present had ever seen what Chen Yuan looked like.

Sure enough, when the group saw how young Chen Yuan was, they were all amazed, their voices filled with doubt, as if they couldn't believe that such a young man could have such a high level of skill.

Yuan Wanhua looked at it curiously.

Jin Dongyang then scanned the scene with a discerning eye.

Fan Zhen, Chu Hong, Xu Qiu, and the others reacted similarly.

Only Li Jian and Xin Long stood up immediately.

"Xiao Chen, Lao Shen, Lao Zhang."

"We've been waiting for you! Xiao Chen, shall Lao Shen introduce you to these experts?"

"Xiao Chen, this is Academician Yuan Wanhua..."

"Hello, Academician Yuan."

With Shen Yun's introduction, Chen Yuan got to know each of the review experts.

Chu Yingying, Ma Weixing, Jiang Guowei, and others followed behind Chen Yuan and shook hands with the experts.

Zhang Qian and Yu Xu, who stayed in Beijing to join the group, already knew this group of experts.

After everyone finished shaking hands, they exchanged a few pleasantries with the expert judges.

When Chu Hong was introduced, Chen Yuan couldn't help but take a second look, knowing that this was Chu Yingying's father.

The introduction was completed shortly afterward.

Chen Yuan, Shen Yun, Zhang Qian, Ma Weixing, and others arrived at the designated area and took their seats.

Chen Yuan opened his laptop and was making a series of preparations for the defense review.

For example, papers, technical summaries, and PPT images to be presented later.

Originally, application materials such as papers, performance reports, and technical reports were required to be submitted in advance, but due to the special nature of this defense review, none of these materials were submitted, and Chen Yuan will give a report on them all on site.

While everyone at the Institute of Plasma Physics was preparing, the review experts were chatting quietly.

Jin Dongyang stared intently at Chen Yuan, making a sound that only those nearby could hear, "Old Li, Chen Yuan seems very inexperienced. Does he really have that much skill?"

Li Jian lowered his voice and said, "Didn't you read his paper, 'Semi-Controlled Nuclear Fusion—The Dyson Sphere of the Hydrogen Bomb'? Is there any doubt about that?"

Jin Dongyang withdrew his gaze and glanced at Chu Hong, who was sitting some distance away. "It's not that I doubt the technology in the paper, but I have some doubts about Chen Yuan. Look, Old Chu's daughter is here too. Do you think it's possible that Old Chu did something behind the scenes..."

Li Jian retorted irritably, "Don't you dare slander the professional competence of our visiting professors at the University of Science and Technology!"

Upon hearing this, Jin Dongyang fell silent, knowing full well that Li Jian might turn hostile if he continued.

Although visiting professors are not real professors, since they are recruited by universities of science and technology, their image is naturally associated with universities.

If he were to say again that Chen Yuan's paper was ghostwritten by Chu Hong, would the University of Science and Technology save face?

To be honest, Jin Dongyang's suspicions didn't stem from Chen Yuan's youth, but rather from seeing Chu Hong's daughter, Chu Yingying, on the defense team, which led to his association and the questioning.

This is not the only person who has this question.

Sitting next to Chu Hong, Luo Yu tentatively asked in a low voice, "Old Chu, Chen Yuan wouldn't happen to be your daughter's boyfriend, would he?"

Chu Hong was taken aback, then frowned and said, "What do you mean? I didn't hear Yingying say she was in a relationship."

Luo Yu blinked and said, "Oh, no, I initially thought it was your daughter's boyfriend."

Chu Hong was about to explain when he suddenly realized something, and his expression turned grim. He said, "Old Luo, I know what you're trying to say. We've known each other for so many years. Although I had my daughter late in life and cherish her dearly, have you ever seen me do something like this?"

How could he not understand Luo Yu's meaning? He was simply saying that if Chen Yuan was Chu Yingying's boyfriend, then the paper "Semi-Controlled Nuclear Fusion - Hydrogen Bomb Dyson Sphere" might have been ghostwritten by him.

Thesis writing services are actually quite common in academic circles both domestically and internationally, and there are even specialized "ghostwriting factories".

Luo Yu's suspicions were not without reason.

Chu Hong could understand the other party's thoughts, but he could not accept the defamation of his own character.

He almost slammed his fist on the table and cursed, but considering the significant impact of today's defense on the judges, he held back.

Yuan Wanhua and Fan Zhen had similar thoughts to some extent, but they did not express them. Instead, they wanted to use "practice" to prove their inner guesses later.

The group of expert reviewers had different thoughts.

Chen Yuan's group was under a lot of pressure and was also whispering among themselves.

"I'm so nervous about having so many academicians."

"Yes, even Professor Yuan and Professor Fan came. I'm really afraid I won't pass the defense."

"No, with Associate Researcher Chen here, we will definitely pass the defense."

Ma Weixing, Jiang Guowei, and other entourage members whispered among themselves.

Shen Yun, Zhang Qian, and Yu Xu remained silent, but their eyes betrayed their inner tension.

They wouldn't be nervous at all if it were a regular project proposal defense application.

This time it's different; the application is for a controlled nuclear fusion demonstration reactor project.

In addition, when he came, Chen Yuan made it clear that he would not use the technologies of the Oriental Superconducting Micro-Upgrade.

They are unsure of themselves, so of course they will be nervous.

Both sides had their own agendas, making the atmosphere in the multi-functional media room somewhat oppressive.

A dozen minutes later, Chen Yuan had prepared the materials.

He sat down in front of his laptop and spoke into the microphone, "Esteemed judges, I am ready. May I begin my presentation?"

Upon hearing this, everyone stopped talking and looked at Chen Yuan.

The defense is finally about to begin!

Li Jian and Xin Long were filled with anticipation, eager to see what advanced technology Chen Yuan would bring out.

Luo Yu, Jin Dongyang, and the others stared intently.

They were really looking forward to the defense, wanting to know if Chen Yuan truly had the ability or if the paper was ghostwritten.

This is easy to test; it will be clear when the technology is demonstrated later.

Only Chu Hong was seething with anger, wishing Chen Yuan would unleash his full power later and show Luo Yu, Jin Dongyang, and their group of ignorant people what real skills were.

Yuan Wanhua, being the person of the highest status present, was the first to speak into the microphone, saying, "Sure, since this is an unconventional defense, we haven't seen any materials. Why don't you start with the technical aspects?"

Chen Yuan said, "I wrote a technical paper before I came here. Can we start directly from the paper?"

"Okay." Yuan Wanhua nodded and said, "Just a heads up, if you're presenting your technical work in the form of a paper, we might interrupt to ask some questions."

Chen Yuan said, "Okay."

Fan Zhen said, "Let's begin the presentation."

"Let me first project the paper into a PowerPoint presentation to show everyone."

Chen Yuan clicked on the computer, and the paper's content immediately appeared on the large screen.

He stood up and walked to the open space in the middle. Without even looking at the screen behind him, he addressed the many reviewers and said, "The title of my paper is 'Super Stellarator Gravitational Confinement Fusion Device' - A Steady-State Controllable Fusion System Based on Space Curvature and Gravitational Lensing."

Everyone was taken aback by his confident and eloquent manner, and an unbelievable thought arose in their minds—were you going to recite the entire paper from memory?

Memorizing a paper isn't difficult, but this is a defense.

If anyone has any questions later, they may interrupt and ask. The respondent will need to provide a series of detailed answers.

One or two interruptions are fine.

After repeating it many times, who can remember where they left off in the memorization?

Everyone became interested and wanted to see how Chen Yuan would perform.

Therefore, whether it was Luo Yu, Jin Dongyang and others who questioned Chen Yuan, Chu Hong, Li Jian and Xin Long who had expectations, or Yuan Wanhua and Fan Zhen, the leading figures in the nuclear field, they all became serious and listened attentively.

The people at the Institute of Plasma Physics were in a different state of mind than the group of defense review experts.

Seeing Chen Yuan's overconfidence, they secretly worried that something might go wrong and cause the review to fail.

Regardless, all eyes were on Chen Yuan.

Chu Yingying, in particular, fixed her gaze on her "idol" with adoration and anticipation.

She had a premonition that Chen Yuan might demonstrate extremely advanced controlled nuclear fusion technology today.

Controlled nuclear fusion technology that could potentially shock the world!